A Different Story
by Caius'babygirl
Summary: I hated it when they killed off Irina Spasky, she was and still is my favourite character. So I have re-written the last part of the second-to-last chapter of In Too Deep. I'll carry on until the end of Into The Gauntlet. I have also written a story called "Allies in the Oddest Places." Read that one, as well. It's quite good, and I'm proud of it.
1. Chapter 1

A Different Story

Chapter 1- A Spray of Water

**When Amy Cahill looked down, she could see the construction debris. There were twisted coils of wire, concrete, nails, and tangles of rusty rebar. Amy knew that, even if they could survive the jump, they'd be in hospital, because their skin would have been impaled. Worse yet, there was no kind of help to get them down safely. **

"**I'll jump," her uncle, Alistair said suddenly, which shocked her. **

"**Don't be stupid, you'd never survive a jump from that height!" She cried, looking aghast that her uncle would suggest such a thing.**

**Her uncle smiled. "My dear niece, I would do anything to save you and your brother. You are much younger than I, and you both deserve a long life."**

**Alistair then braced himself against the wall, looking for a place to safely land. There wasn't one.**

**He was about to jump, when a voice below called out, "Don't be so stupid, Alistair!"**

**The voice was harsh, and clearly **_**Russian. **_

**Amy gasped, as she spotted Irina Spasky, of all people, running below them, with a pole in her hand. As Amy, Dan, and Alistair watched in astonishment, she dug the pole into the ground, making a spectacular vault up to the roof.**

**She landed above them, and slid the pole down to them. **

"**What is the word?" She called to them, and Dan called back, "Shimmy."**

"**Ah yes, shimmy down the pole, but one at a time, because it isn't very strong pole."**

**Amy was so surprised, she gaped. Here was her worst enemy, a woman she feared, doing her best to save their lives!**

_**Wow, **_**she thought, **_**people really can and do change.**_

"**Can we trust her, though?" Alistair asked.**

**Amy looked up at her cousin's intent face, and replied, "Yes, we can."**

**Dan, grabbing a hold of the pole, slid down safely, and Amy breathed a sigh of relief.**

"**Amy, you go next." Alistair said to her, and Amy grabbed the pole, which felt hot against her skin. She slid down, and reached the ground, just as Alistair slid down himself. **

**They were just about to hold the pole steady so Irina could slide down, but it suddenly caught on fire, forcing them to drop it.**

"**Hurry!" Amy called to the other two, and they all hurried off to find something to save Irina. **

**High above them, Irina watched them intently, reflecting on her life and struggled to keep her mind clear. Lost in thought, she didn't hear the fire engines below her, until she was sprayed in the face with cold water.**

**Confused, she looked down, and saw four fire fighters attending to the massive blaze.**

**She then realised that she wasn't ready to let go of life. She wanted to finish the clue contest, and so, she called out for help.**

**The fire fighters, who were tackling the blaze, heard her cry, and then raised a ladder to the top of the roof, so that she could climb down. **

**When she was safely on the ground, Amy ran over to her, and gave her a hug. "Thank you," she cried, and Irina smiled, and for the first time ever, hugged the young girl back.  
**


	2. A Confession

Chapter 2- A Confession

As Amy, Dan, and Irina sat together on the Java beach, looking out at the calm tropical waters, Amy turned to the ex KGB spy, and asked, "Why did you save us last night?"

Amy's throat still felt scratchy, and she had drunk at least four glasses of fresh water at the small seaside café in which they had had breakfast.

Irina smiled; showing slightly discoloured teeth, and said, "I wasn't going to let Isabel Kabra kill you."

Amy shuddered. Isabel Kabra. Just the mere thought, let alone mention, of her name were enough to make Amy cringe. Last night, Isabel had tried to kill her, Dan, and Uncle Alistair, and would have succeeded if it wasn't for Irina's quick acting, and a fantastic pole vault.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Dan.

"Hey, Irina, do you think you could teach me how to pole vault?"

Irina stared at him in surprise. "It's not easy thing, you know. I've been doing it for over half of my life."

Dan shrugged, and said, "I'll just leave it to you, then."

Amy nodded in agreement, but part of Irina's words sank in. _Half of my life._ That was how long she'd been keeping the murder of her parents from her brother. When he had found out from Irina, he had been furious with her, and even avoided speaking to her if possible.

Amy knew that, without Dan, she couldn't really face anything, and she knew that she had to tell Dan why she hadn't told him about the murder of their parents.

"Er, Dan?" She said, hesitantly.

Dan glanced at her, noticing her somewhat scared expression, and said "Yeah?"

"There's a reason why I didn't tell you about Mom and Dad being murdered. It wasn't because I didn't trust you; it was because I remembered something I did. I didn't want you to know, I didn't want you to blame me."

Dan shot her a questioning look, and Irina asked, "How could he possibly blame you?"

"Well, the night of the fire, I was still awake when the strangers came. I could hear them downstairs, and I sort of eavesdropped. They were asking Mom and Dad over and over where they went, and I was scared. I went in, but it wasn't Mom who picked me up, it was Isabel."

"You have excellent memory, Amy." Irina said, quite pleased by that. "You'd make a great Lucian."

Amy weakly chuckled, but then she said, "Isabel talked about the teddy bears on my night-gown, and I corrected her by saying they were koalas. When I said that, everyone worked it out."

Dan, still not quite following her, said, "Worked out what?"

Even Irina was puzzled, and she had been there.

"They then knew that Mom and Dad had gone to Australia in search of Robert Cahill Henderson, and they must have figured that they brought something back. Because later that night, Isabel said, _they traced him to Australia, didn't they? This has to ta_ken _care of tonight_."

"Do you think they brought something back, and that's what they were looking for?" Dan said, wondering she thought he would blame her.

"What do you do when your house is on fire?" Amy asked.

"You run for the most valuable thing." Dan and Irina said together.

Then Irina added, "So your mother ran for you two children, and your father ran for whatever it was."

Amy nodded. When she spoke again, her voice wasn't as steady.

"Maybe someone set the fire so they could see what happened. Maybe something went wrong. But I do know that the fire wouldn't have been set if I hadn't briefly turned into Hermione Granger, being such a know-it-all!"

With that, Amy buried her face in her hands, and started to bawl with shame and guilt. She could cry out her grief, but it would just keep coming back, and never go away.

Dan knew that it wasn't Amy's fault, but felt like his sister needed an adult to tell her that. And that's what Irina did.

She spoke sharply to Amy, and snapped, "Do you honestly think that, just because you had koalas on your nightgown, your parents were murdered?"

Amy half-nodded and Irina gently lifted the girls chin.

"Look at me, Amelia Hope Cahill," she ordered, and Amy's jade green eyes met her Arctic blue ones. "You are NOT responsible for the death of your parents. You did NOT light that match. Just because you said koalas, you did not change anything. All of that lies in the hands of your parents' killer."

The scorn in her voice took away the young girls fear, and she had become stronger. Amy then smiled slightly; if neither Irina nor her brother thought she wasn't to blame, maybe she wasn't.

"Irina, you asked me why Mom went back inside. Was it just for Dad? I mean, what could be more important than your own children?"

Irina stiffened slightly, but it was Dan who answered, "The fate of the world", in a joking sort of way. Amy nodded. "The fate of world."

Now I'm really sorry to stop here, but it's getting really long. So, when I update next, I shall finish the chapter. Hope you like the changes I've made.


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